The Department of Energy has disclosed new information concerning a recent cyberattack that compromised employees' personally identifying information (PII).

The sensitive PII data compromised was limited to names, dates of birth and social security numbers, according to an internal DOE memo distributed on Aug. 29. It said the stored information did not include banking, credit card or clearance information.

A spokesman for the DOE wasn't immediately available to confirm that it sent the memo, but an agency source confirmed its authenticity. Agency officials have so far declined to respond to all requests for comment on the breach.

The data breach was first disclosed to employees in an Aug. 14 email, which said that no confidential DOE information had been stolen, and that data on 14,000 employees was compromised. The agency promised to notify all affected employees individually by the end of August.

The Aug. 29 memo revealed that the system hacked by attackers is called "DOEInfo." The system is owned and maintained by the agency's Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

According to agency sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the hacked application was Internet-accessible and written in ColdFusion, a rapid Web application development platform -- developed by Allaire, then purchased by Adobe in 2005 -- that was originally designed to allow HTML pages to be connected to databases. But the version of ColdFusion being used for DOEInfo remained outdated and vulnerable to known exploits.

According to DOE sources, the problem of insecure systems that contain PII is widely known at the agency but difficult to change since more than 1,000 systems tap DOEInfo, which maintains a single user ID for each employee, tied to employee access permissions. "Our logins still use our initials and parts of our SSN (duh), who would think that was good enough in the first place?" one source said in an email message. "Complaining doesn't help. The answer is always, it costs too much to redo our PII."

The breach notification was also published on a DOE intranet, where some employees complained about a lack of timely, forthright communication about the breach. Some questioned whether agency officials are covering up the full extent of the breach.

The July breach marked the second time this year that DOE employee information was compromised in a cyberattack, following a January intrusion.

The memo distributed on Aug. 29 stated "The Office of Cyber Security is working with organizations at DOE to obtain verifiable information and direction," presumably referring to the agency's participation in the breach investigation, which also involves federal law enforcement agencies. "As information becomes available, we will inform employees through e-mail and updates to the article," it continued, referring to a
copy of the Thursday data breach notification that was also posted to an agency intranet.

According to a spokeswoman, the DOE has offered a year's worth of free credit monitoring services to affected employees.

Welcome to
TechWeb, the IT professional's online resource for news coverage of the
information technology industry. We know technology news. Our mobile
and wireless news coverage moves as fast as wireless technology itself.
We follow all the devices you depend on to stay connected. Our software
coverage follows the multi-faceted software industry from every angle.
We've got a lock on network security and computer security issues.
We're all over the business of the Web--the Internet business--and the
engines that run it. We have our eyes and ears tuned to the players who
make and run the tools that tie us all together--Google, Microsoft,
eBay, Cisco, Yahoo, Oracle, Apple, Sony--and scores of others. And we
keep close tabs on the backbone of information technology, PC hardware.
We know PCs and Apple computers inside and out. We cover computer
technology, computer news, software news, search engine news, business
software, operating systems, and software development. Our coverage of
tech news includes a strong focus on the security business, its
attendant spyware and viruses, how security relates to wireless
technology and business networking and the security issues surrounding
RFID technology. We closely follow developments in Internet news and
Internet technology, including the spread of broadband and its effect
on Web browsers and the Web business. We watch the VoIP business, and
how VoIP technology is affecting the state of telephony in the
enterprise. And if all that isn't enough, we also track developments in
the IT industry that affect IT jobs, IT careers, and outsourcing.